The tri­na­miX Mul­ti-Mate­ri­al Film Check is a PAL One appli­ca­ti­on for scree­ning fle­xi­ble pack­a­ging films using por­ta­ble NIR ana­ly­sis. It helps clas­si­fy sui­ta­ble film samples as mono-mate­ri­al, PE/PA with appro­xi­ma­te PA con­tent indi­ca­ti­on, or multi-material.

This page is focu­sed on the appli­ca­ti­on its­elf: what it detects, how the mea­su­re­ment works, what results to expect, and whe­re the tech­ni­cal limits are. For the broa­der pack­a­ging work­flow, see Fle­xi­ble Pack­a­ging Recy­cla­bi­li­ty Scree­ning.

Table of Contents

Mul­ti-mate­ri­al film detec­tion is a scree­ning pro­cess used to distin­gu­ish mono-mate­ri­al fle­xi­ble pack­a­ging films from more com­plex mul­ti­lay­er struc­tures. Using hand­held NIR spec­tro­sco­py, the appli­ca­ti­on eva­lua­tes whe­ther a sui­ta­ble film sam­ple beha­ves like PE, PP, PET, PA, PE/PA, or a broa­der mul­ti-mate­ri­al structure.

The appli­ca­ti­on is desi­gned for fast, prac­ti­cal scree­ning of fle­xi­ble pack­a­ging films. It is useful when you need an ear­ly indi­ca­ti­on of whe­ther a film beha­ves like a mono-mate­ri­al struc­tu­re or should be trea­ted as a more com­plex mul­ti-mate­ri­al structure.

It is not a labo­ra­to­ry repla­ce­ment and does not pro­vi­de a com­ple­te lay­er-by-lay­er ana­ly­sis. Its value is in fast tech­ni­cal qua­li­fi­ca­ti­on befo­re deeper test­ing or mate­ri­al decisions.

The appli­ca­ti­on clas­si­fies sui­ta­ble fle­xi­ble pack­a­ging film samples into prac­ti­cal result cate­go­ries. The­se cate­go­ries sup­port pack­a­ging deve­lo­p­ment, sup­pli­er com­pa­ri­son, and recy­cling-ori­en­ted scree­ning workflows.

The result is shown direct­ly in the tri­na­miX appli­ca­ti­on inter­face. Typi­cal out­puts may include:

The­se out­puts are inten­ded for scree­ning fle­xi­ble pack­a­ging films and should not be inter­pre­ted as a com­ple­te mul­ti­lay­er film analysis.

Right side: Screen­shot of the appli­ca­ti­on inter­face and exam­p­le result categories.

For sui­ta­ble PE/PA fle­xi­ble pack­a­ging struc­tures, the appli­ca­ti­on can pro­vi­de an appro­xi­ma­te PA con­tent indi­ca­ti­on using hand­held NIR spec­tro­sco­py. The result sup­ports fast scree­ning and com­pa­ri­son work­flows but is not labo­ra­to­ry-gra­de quantification.

The appli­ca­ti­on does not iden­ti­fy the com­ple­te lay­er struc­tu­re of mul­ti­lay­er films and does not mea­su­re indi­vi­du­al lay­er thickness.

The mea­su­re­ment is per­for­med direct­ly on the film sam­ple using the PAL One hand­held NIR spec­tro­me­ter. Cor­rect sam­ple hand­ling is important for relia­ble results.

1. Prepare the Film

Place the white refe­rence tar­get behind a sin­gle lay­er of the film sam­ple whe­re appli­ca­ble. This impro­ves mea­su­re­ment con­sis­ten­cy, espe­ci­al­ly for thin or trans­pa­rent fle­xi­ble films.

2. Measure in Direct Contact

Place the device in direct cont­act with the front side of the film and start the scan in the application.

3. Review the Result

The appli­ca­ti­on dis­plays the result cate­go­ry. Mono-mate­ri­al and mul­ti-mate­ri­al results are sepa­ra­ted, and sui­ta­ble PE/PA films may include an appro­xi­ma­te PA con­tent indication.

The fol­lo­wing tech­ni­cal resour­ces sup­port eva­lua­ti­on of the Mul­ti-Mate­ri­al Film Check appli­ca­ti­on and its sui­ta­bi­li­ty for fle­xi­ble pack­a­ging film scree­ning workflows.

The stron­gest use cases are scree­ning tasks whe­re a fast first indi­ca­ti­on is useful befo­re deeper ana­ly­sis. The appli­ca­ti­on is most rele­vant when many fle­xi­ble pack­a­ging samples need to be nar­ro­wed down or compared.

• Pack­a­ging deve­lo­p­ment: compa­re film con­cepts during ear­ly mate­ri­al selection.
• Sup­pli­er com­pa­ri­son: check whe­ther sup­pli­ed films show simi­lar struc­tu­ral behavior.
• Inter­nal scree­ning: iden­ti­fy samples that should be review­ed more closely.
• Recy­cling pre-check: sepa­ra­te likely mono-mate­ri­al can­di­da­tes from more com­plex fle­xi­ble pack­a­ging films.

No. The Mul­ti-Mate­ri­al Film Check is a scree­ning appli­ca­ti­on and not a full mul­ti­lay­er film ana­ly­sis method.

Metal­li­zed films requi­re spe­cial cau­ti­on. Metal­li­zed lay­ers can block NIR light and redu­ce the relia­bi­li­ty of the result. In some cases, mea­su­ring from both sides may pro­vi­de addi­tio­nal infor­ma­ti­on, but results should still be trea­ted as scree­ning infor­ma­ti­on only.

The Mul­ti-Mate­ri­al Film Check is dif­fe­rent from reflec­ti­vi­ty test­ing. This appli­ca­ti­on screens fle­xi­ble film struc­tu­re cate­go­ries such as mono-mate­ri­al, PE/PA, and mul­ti-mate­ri­al. Reflec­ti­vi­ty test­ing eva­lua­tes whe­ther a pla­s­tic sam­ple is detec­ta­ble by NIR sort­ing systems.

For NIR detec­ta­bi­li­ty and sor­ta­bi­li­ty work­flows, see the tri­na­miX Reflec­ti­vi­ty Check.

The appli­ca­ti­on runs on the tri­na­miX PAL One hand­held NIR spec­tro­me­ter. It can be offe­red as part of a con­fi­gu­red PAL One set­up or as an addi­tio­nal soft­ware appli­ca­ti­on for sui­ta­ble exis­ting PAL One users.

• PAL One hand­held NIR spectrometer
• Mul­ti-Mate­ri­al Film Check soft­ware application
• Access to tri­na­miX app environment
• Cloud-based result sto­rage and report­ing options
• Basic onboar­ding for mea­su­re­ment work­flow and result interpretation

Avai­la­bi­li­ty, licen­se dura­ti­on, and pri­cing depend on the con­fi­gu­red set­up. For broa­der device details, see the tri­na­miX NIR Solu­ti­ons over­view.

A sam­ple test is the best way to eva­lua­te whe­ther your spe­ci­fic fle­xi­ble pack­a­ging film can be scree­ned relia­bly with this application.

This is espe­ci­al­ly useful for

• PE/PA films,
• mul­ti­lay­er pack­a­ging samples with unknown struc­tu­re, or
• inter­nal com­pa­ri­sons bet­ween mate­ri­al variants.

What is multilayer film detection?

Mul­ti­lay­er film detec­tion is a scree­ning pro­cess used to distin­gu­ish mono-mate­ri­al films from more com­plex fle­xi­ble pack­a­ging struc­tures using methods such as NIR spectroscopy.

Can the application identify all layers in a flexible film?

No. It does not pro­vi­de a full lay­er-by-lay­er struc­tu­re. It clas­si­fies sui­ta­ble samples into prac­ti­cal scree­ning categories.

Can NIR detect PA in flexible packaging?

For sui­ta­ble PE/PA struc­tures, the appli­ca­ti­on can pro­vi­de an appro­xi­ma­te PA con­tent indi­ca­ti­on. This should be unders­tood as a scree­ning result, not labo­ra­to­ry-gra­de quantification.

Can metallized films be analyzed with handheld NIR?

Metal­li­zed lay­ers can block NIR light and may make results unre­lia­ble. Such samples should be eva­lua­ted careful­ly and con­firm­ed with addi­tio­nal methods if necessary.

Is this the same as reflectivity testing?

No. Reflec­ti­vi­ty test­ing checks NIR detec­ta­bi­li­ty and sor­ta­bi­li­ty. The Mul­ti-Mate­ri­al Film Check screens fle­xi­ble film struc­tu­re categories.

Does the Multi-Material Film Check replace recyclability certification?

No. The appli­ca­ti­on sup­ports inter­nal scree­ning and tech­ni­cal eva­lua­ti­on work­flows but does not replace for­mal recy­cla­bi­li­ty test­ing or certification.